A Life Worth Living
by LeafyxThiefy
Summary: A stable job, a comfortable and roomy apartment in the heart of NYC, what more could you ask for? Things were starting to look up for the Surgeon, that is, until his roommate brought home a panicked, mute teenager and got whisked into the Witness Protection Program to become Trafalgar Law. AU LawLu Law x Luffy Slight swearing and OOC-ness. Collab! Fic
1. The Butterknife

**Hey Everyone! So I know what you're thinking... not another one! You got it, another LawLu is heading your way, another collab! fic might I add, this one is done with emygrl99, go give her drabble a look! You wont regret it I promise! She also has this to say:**

 **Emy: Hello! Many hours of sleep have been lost to the planning for this story so I hope you all enjoy (:**

 **Now before we start, please note that this is a LawLu, and for this chapter (maybe a couple more later?) their names will be altered because reasons:  
Matthew: Law  
Eric: Rocinante (Cora)  
Diego: Luffy**

 **We also don't own anything in regards to One Piece (or the cover picture), nor know much about WPP because we've never been part of it... And now, please Enjoy!~**

* * *

"Eric, I'm back!" Matthew called out as he entered his apartment. It had been a long day of work at the hospital, the highlight of it being a woman who was rushed in after eating a tapeworm to help herself get thinner. It's surprising how far some people are willing to go to lose weight, Matthew mused as he walked into the kitchen, tossing his keys onto the counter.

"Eric, are you home?" he called again, wondering where his friend had disappeared off to. Hearing no response, Matthew glanced at the clock. Eric should be home by now, but then again, he had a habit of disappearing for a few days at a time for his work. His friend hardly needed looking after, but Matthew couldn't help worrying about the older man.

With a sigh, Matthew headed for his bedroom, eager to relax with a nice book before going to bed, but then he heard a muffled scuffling sound coming from behind and paused. He turned around. There was nothing there.

Puzzled, Matthew backtracked to the lounge area and peeked inside. "Eric, if you were home, you should have said something." Silence greeted him, and he took a few steps further into the room.

"Eric?" There was still no answer, and unease started to trickle through Matthew's veins. He slowly reached over to pick up a lamp, gripping it tightly almost as if he were wielding a baseball bat instead of a lamp.

"Who's in here?" he muttered unwilling to let even the smallest hint of unease show in his voice, his fingers restless around the lamp.

Then, he noticed a slight movement from behind the couch, and Matthew creeped across the room, trying to avoid the creaky areas on the floor. As he came around to the the other side of the couch, Matthew found the source of the noise. To say that he was surprised, was putting it mildly.

Matthew found himself staring at a stranger. What he saw was a skinny teenager pressed up against the fabric tightly, gripping a butter knife with a wild look in his eyes. He had dirty black hair and was wearing a torn up vest with shorts and sandals, despite the cooling weather outside. There was a straw hat hanging off of his neck and a thin scar underneath his left eye. As the teen tried to scoot back from him awkwardly, Matthew noticed the muscles rippling underneath his dirt-caked skin and he suspected the intruder was stronger than he looked. Despite this, his breathing was fast and shallow and there was a faint tremor in his hands as he gripped the butter knife firmly.

Matthew had dealt with panicked patients in the past, so he was more or less used to the situation, but in his own home? What was the kid doing here anyway, had he wandered in? Matthew decided he would find out after he dealt with the blunt weapon in the teen's palms. With practiced ease, he slowly placed the lamp down and opened his hands so the teen could see he wasn't going to be attacked. Gently and very slowly, he crouched down so they were eye level with each other, knowing that any sudden movements might send the teen into further panic and the aftermath would probably not be pretty.

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you, see? Put the butter knife down and we can talk, okay?" Matthew murmured in a soothing tone. His words had the desired effect of soothing the agitated teen. His grip on the butter knife relaxed some, but his eyes were clearly saying I don't trust you. He stared at Matthew intently, following the doctor's every move.

"There you go, you're not in danger," Matthew continued to speak quietly, his mind racing. If he could somehow take the butter knife from the teen, he would be able to relax and finally figure out what the hell was going on. Unfortunately, the teen noticed Matthew's eyes flicker down to the butter knife and he tensed up again, unwilling to let it go. Matthew sighed, wondering how he had gotten into the mess. There was a random kid in his apartment with a butter knife, his friend was still missing, and Matthew couldn't even shift his weight without the teen's grip on the butter knife tightening, so calling the cops was out of the question.

The front door slammed shut, and both of them jumped, attention immediately drawn to the sudden noise. In the doorway stood Eric, and Matthew breathed a sigh of relief. Eric however, looked horrified.

"Shit," he swore under his breath, taking in the situation, before offering a sheepish smile. "So, Matthew. I see you've met my friend," he said, and Matthew looked at him in disbelief.

"You know this kid?"

Eric ignored him, and Matthew watched as his friend walked past him, kneeling next to the teen. He then gently removed the butter knife from his shaking hands and placed in on the floor next to him. He looked at the teen with a warm smile, and Matthew was uncertain how to react to any of this.

"How do you-" Matthew's question was cut off by a sharp knock at the front door and everybody turned their heads to watch as a tall man with bushy black hair sauntered into the room, his hand holding a clipboard as he made himself known, seemingly unaffected by the stares he was receiving.

"Excuse me gentlemen, but I need you to come with me. You are in danger and need to be placed into the Witness Protection Program. Walk quickly and quietly, and bring nothing with you. All of your questions will be answered on the way to the airport." He offered the group, followed by a vaguely reassuring smile. The man stepped aside, motioning towards the door. His words had sounded like they were a suggestion, something they could consider but deep down everyone knew that there was no room for argument in that statement. They were to follow this nameless man's orders without question, for now.

Matthew stood up, ignoring the command in the man's voice and attempted to ask his question anyway."The Witness Protection Program? What-"

"I promise we will attempt to answer as many of your questions as we can, but time is of the essence, we need to hurry."

Matthew started to protest again, but Eric silenced him with a sharp glance. He also stood up, pulling the confused teen with him. Together, they walked past the man and out the door, leaving Matthew as the only person left in the room. Still feeling uncertain, Matthew followed them out of the apartment and watched as the tall man turned off the lights and closed the front door with a final resounding thud. Matthew had a horrible, sinking feeling that he would never see his home again.

The man ushered them down the stairs of the apartment complex and out a back door where a discreet van was sitting at the curb, engine running. Nobody said a word as the four of them climbed into the back and the van drove off, whisking them away into the night.

"Alright, now answer my questions," Matthew huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at the man.

"Certainly. Let's start from the beginning," the man nodded and introduced himself as Aokiji. He then went on to explain how they have reasons to believe that he and Eric have become targets of a notorious drug cartel that operates from somewhere in South America, run by a man named Joker.

"He's well known for killing anybody who might have information on his actions and has several trackers at his disposal, all of them as skilled and as ruthless as their leader." Aokiji pulled out several grainy pictures of a tall, skinny man wearing what looked like a pink feathered mantle. It was hard to make out facial features because the pictures were all taken from a distance at awkward angles, but Matthew could see that he was smiling grotesquely.

While Aokiji continued to talk, Matthew observed the teen out of the corner of his eye, looking for a reaction of some sort. After some time though, it became clear that the youngest of them all never once lost his hold over the look of blank indifference that governed his young features. That is until a certain term was uttered, at the mention of Joker, the boy paled and went painfully still. Eric, having noticed this nudged the teen gently, giving him a small reassuring smile.

"-in your best interest to enter the Witness Protection Program. Of course, you can refuse our assistance, but then you'll most certainly be killed," Aokiji finished. Matthew blinked, having missed most of what he said. He had gotten the jist of it, but there was a nagging thought in the back of his mind.

"Why is Joker after us though? I've never heard of him until today." Matthew pointed out.

"That is what we'd like to know as well, but it may be a case of guilt by association. It's possible somebody you know is a member of the cartel, or has recently escaped from it. And now in order to keep his dealings from being known, Joker is looking to silence anyone who might have even the smallest hint of information on him."

Somebody I know? Matthew mused. Who do I know that could possibly be part of a drug cartel? He didn't have many friends, but Matthew prided himself on the ones he had. Clearly he doesn't know them as well as he thought he did if one of them is involved in drug dealing. There's no way it could be Shachi or Penguin, they may act weird sometimes but they definitely weren't drug dealers, much less murderers. The only other person is could be was one of his relatives or Eric, but surely Matthew would have noticed strange behavior from his friend, they were living together after all!

Matthew's train of thought was interrupted as a white envelope was placed in his lap. He looked up and noticed that Eric and the teen had received identical envelopes.

"In those envelopes, you will find your new identities. Everything you'll need to get settled in your new life is included, a birth certificate with your new name on it, a different social security number, and a starting check that should last you for a few months or so," Aokiji explained, and Matthew stared at his envelope, a wave of apprehension washing over him. Inside this envelope was a his new life. His old life is gone now, dead to everybody except for Eric. He looked to his older friend, who had already opened his own envelope, peering at its contents.

"What's your new name?" Matthew asked, curious.

"Corazon."

"That's an interesting name," Matthew said carefully.

"Isn't it? Call me Cora," his friend grinned, jokingly holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Cora," Matthew smiled back. The name suited him quite well, actually. "Do you care to introduce me to your friend now?" He motioned to the silent teen.

"Oh, yeah. Matthew, this is Diego. Diego, _el es tu nuevo amigo*_." Cora said, looking strangely proud of himself. "Diego here is mute, and on top of that he only understands limited Spanish even though he's from Columbia," he explained upon seeing Matthew's confused expression. The teen looked up at him, offering a small smile. Matthew looked at the teen curiously, wondering what had happened in Diego's life to make him feel the need to stop talking. Was it connected to this Joker person? Is that why the kid had been hiding behind his couch back in their apartment? And now that he thought about it, why had the teen had picked a butter knife of all things from the kitchen? Matthew kept his sharper, carving knives together with the rest of the silverware, so why had the teen opted for a duller blade if he meant to protect himself?

He was torn from his musing by Cora nudging his shoulder.

"What's your name then, huh?" he asked Matthew expectantly.

"Oh, um, let me see." Matthew opened the envelope and pulled out the stack of papers, searching for the birth certificate. The name on it was long, and complicated to say the least. Was it possible to mispronounce your own name? Matthew wondered idly.

"From now on, I'm Trafalgar Law."

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 **And there you have it, chapter one of this wonderful tale, as with another Collab, she will take over one chapter and I'll get the next, yay teamwork! Please let us know your thoughts, comments, revisions? Anything helps.**

 **And for our non-spanish speakers we'll be providing you translations at the bottom of each chapter until further notice!**

 **feel free to drop a favorite or a review if you liked it! They really gets us motivated to write**. **\- emygrl99 and Leafy**

 ***He is your new friend***


	2. New Identities

**Hey guys are you ready for chapter two! Also thanks so much for the reads, favorites, follows and over all the reviews you guys are amazing!**

 **Neither I nor Emy own nothing in One Piece or any other referenced material. Enjoy!~**

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"Tra- Tora..." the blonde now named Corazon tried to sound out the name, whisking the papers out of the surgeon's hands and looking it over from every possible angle that he could, even going as far as to hold the sheets of paper upside down as if that would help him read the name any better. "Torao, Trafal.. Truffle?"

Sighing in both exasperation and fondness, Matt took back his new legal papers and held them against the white envelope. "Give me those before you hurt yourself, Eric. It isn't that hard really."

"Sure" he said with a smile, albeit rolling his eyes to the car's roof. "Keep telling yourself that, Law. Oh hey, does that mean that your word is 'Law' now?" the blond snickered.

Matthew found himself resisting the urge to slam his palm to his face, he could feel his hand twitching, clutching the documents slightly tighter, but he resisted it. Instead he turned to Diego, deciding to distract himself. Matthew offered him a small smile and set his paperwork down, gently tapping the smaller boy's hands.

"Dejame ver?" *****

The words rolled off of his tongue easily, it was a common enough phrase at his workplace that he used wherever he had to look patients over. So long as Matthew didn't need to form any of the longer sentences in the second tongue,he guessed he would be fine with the teen. Sooner or later they would teach Diego English so that he and Eric could communicate with him more easily.

After a moment, the boy handed over the white parchment and Matt smiled again, opening the sealed envelope. Pulling out the falsified, or was it legal now? birth certificate, Matthew read aloud. "Monkey D. Luffy..."

His gray eyes went to Aokiji with a raised brow. "Really? Monkey... is that the best surname our wonderful nation can come up with?"

Aokiji looked unruffled by the surgeon's words and shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't make them, so don't look at me."

Matt snorted and looked back at the paperwork. "And you people are seriously passing him off as a nineteen year old? The kid barely looks legal, hell he looks no more than seventeen and even then people would question it."

"Actually," Eric said cautiously from his seat. "Diego is nineteen."

"And how do you know that?" Matthew asked, his gray eyes rounding over to his friend and leaving the WITSEC man alone for the time being as he typed away at a small handheld device that looked too new and intricate for it to be a regular cellphone.

"Well I did say we were friends, right?" Eric sweatdropped and offered Matthew a weak smile. "But he is nineteen, watch. Diego?"

The boy looked over to Eric and offered him one of the largest smiles Matthew had ever seen. On the outside, Diego looked happy enough, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, creating one of the saddest sights he had ever laid eyes on. Matthew's heart clenched at the scene.

It was obvious that Diego was afraid, but of what? Of Joker? Or of someone else?

It was the same smile that Matthew saw at the hospital every now and again when kids tried to be brave for a simple shot, or when they were told they had an incurable disease. It was the same smile that Lamie had given Matthew and their parents the moment she had been told she had Amber Lead Disease...

"Fine, fine I believe you, he's nineteen." Matthew interjected before Eric could start questioning the boy. Once silencing Eric, Matthew turned and offered Luffy a smile while slipping the documents back into his hands, "Tu nombre es Luffy ahora." *****

The boy's smile wavered as his eyes looked over to Law and then down to his lap, keeping his eyes lowered and out of sight, hiding them not only behind the dark curtain of his dark hair but also in the shadow of his straw hat. Luffy refused to look up for the remainder of the ride.

Matthew thought this was peculiar to say the least, but kept quiet on the matter.

* * *

Diego looked at the words scribbled on the piece of paper, at least that's what he had heard those lines and squiggles were called.

"Luffy." He had been told by the man with the tattoos that his new name was going to be Luffy. That name sounded odd to him, but he certainly liked it better than Diego. He didn't even know what a Diego was! Not that he knew what a Luffy was either, but it was definitely nicer than Diego.

Back then in that place, 'Diego' had been what he was called and he hadn't fought it. In that place, everyone was given new names, or at least new to those who already owned names. Diego, on the other hand, hadn't had a name in the first place, so he hadn't even known what names were for at first until certain events followed. It turned out that "nombres" ***** were given so that other people could tell you apart from others. Now Luffy was the new name he had to respond to, and he made up his mind then that he would commit it to memory.

"Loofi. Luffy." He mouthed the word, but dared not speak it, not that his voice would listen to him even if he did try to sound it out. After some time of disuse, his voice had simply abandoned him, and Luffy knew it was better this way. He was content being mute, silence kept him safe.

Now Luffy sat here with his head downcast and practicing the new term he would respond to. Luffy felt small again, surrounded by this many people in such a closed off space. He tried not to think about it though, instead focusing on three things; the first being his new name and the other two comforts being the hat on his head and the two small butter knife that he had found in the last place he had been at.

His experience in the last 48 hours had been pushed so far beyond the limits of confusion, to the point where Luffy no longer knew what was happening. He had been asleep in that place before suddenly being taken from his bed, pulled kicking and punching into the night, and stuffed into one of these mechanical things that he had come to know as carros ***.**

Luffy had seen plenty of them in the Gray terminal, there were tons of those metal monsters there, and every now and then he would sleep in one. 'Carros,' ***** they were called. But the ones that these people used had doors and nicer seats. The cars he was used to sleeping in had no doors, and more often than not the seats were gone. If the seats were there, however, they were all torn up with springs jutting out, stabbing into his spine and ribcage. It had been a bed to sleep on though, so he really couldn't complain.

Now was his third time riding in one of these things; the first had lead him to the worst place of his life, the second had lead him to the man with the tattoos and now the third was leading him to where? Luffy didn't know, and he was curious, but honestly, he was also kind of afraid to find out where he was going next

The first time he had been in a nice car, Luffy had tried to escape the moving mechanical monster and had been heavily reprimanded for the endeavor. The second time he hadn't attempted it and had been rewarded with food and his butterknifes, so maybe if he sat still now, he would be given more food? The beatings he wasn't so sure about those.

He hadn't been beaten in the last place, which was odd. Actually, the blonde man himself was a little odd, but he was still one of them. No matter how nice he seemed Luffy didn't know if he could trust him, or any of these people for that matter. Part of him wanted to believe something good was happening, but he wasn't so sure. He wasn't sure about the blonde, nor the one with the tattoos and certainly questioning the man with the weird hair.

For a while, all Luffy did was listen to the words he could not understand, the mumbled jibberish that they said to one another. They probably did this on purpose, spoke with words and gestures that he could not comprehend so that he couldn't understand them.

He did pick up a few words here and there though, like when they decided to speak to him and when they told him that the man with the tattoos was to be his new friend. His name was 'La', it was an easy enough name to remember. Corazon, a man who had claimed to be Eric not that long ago said a few words to him, but all he was able to get from it was "him" and "take care" and "you".

The people back at the other place had said the same thing, they had promised they would take care of him. Clenching his hands together, Luffy just let their words fade into the background and waited out the ride.

* * *

Law.

Matthew had yet to get used to that name. It was surreal, really. To come home one day to a strange boy brandishing a butter knife at him in his own home. Then he was dragged along on this... this mission? Was that what these things were called? This man Aokiji (If that was his real name) suddenly telling him he had a new name, new identity, new job... wait hold on, his job!

"Eric, I'm a doctor! Doctors don't just up and leave whenever they want!" his eyes turned to Aokiji, alarm clearly written on his face.

"What about my job?! What about the hospital?! I have patients back there waiting for me! They need me! Oh god, Danni's heart was coming in tomorrow, that little girl needs her heart, I'm the only surgeon she trusts... she trusted me." Matthew was becoming slightly hysterical as he buried his head between his knees.

His hands were balled up into his hair as he took deep breaths to calm himself. "What's going to happen to them?" he whispered, more concerned for his patients than himself at this moment. Aokiji's cool voice cut in, however, before Matthew could have a full-blown panic attack.

"You need not worry Law, your patients will be given to Dr. Kureha. She's renowned throughout the country, I'm sure you have heard of her skills. Of course we wouldn't simply leave your patients without a surgeon. You can rest assured that they are in one of the best hands."

Matthew was appeased for now, but he was not happy, far from that actually. Grumbling under his breath, he raised his head when Eric gently patted his shoulder in reassurance. Matthew only grimaced, unable to smile at this point, and ignoring the nervous look coming from the teen who had scooted to the farthest corner of the car.

Completely failing at resisting the urge to sigh, Matthew looked at the paperwork again, what was his newest job going to be now? Hopefully it fell into his criteria of skill sets. Matthew searched through the papers, needing some good news out of this sudden mess that was his life. As he shuffled skillfully through the papers, he grimaced further. His workplace had trained his fingers well, for he often had to thumb through sizable stacks of paperwork back in the hospital when dealing with patient's files. Now in this little cramped car, Matthew pulled out his new occupational listing and stared blankly at the sheet of paper.

Trafalgar Law's career, it was listed there plainly in black and white.

"I'm a nanny?!" Matthew roared, rounding again at the officer, earning a jump from the teen who only pressed himself further into the corner of his seat, and a jump from Eric as well, as he hadn't known Matthew would react this way.

"I am a fucking nanny?!"

"Educational Tutor actually..." the afro haired man deadpanned.

"I was- No, I AM one of the greatest surgeons in the entire fucking country of America and all of that study, all of my credentials-!" he stopped and resumed his position of holding his head down between his legs. Matthew was having a crisis. "All of that work…"

"Matthew..." Eric said slowly, gently and soothingly running his fingers through Matt's hair. "Matthew this isn't forever, you must realize that. I know it seems bad now, but this will only be for a while. Besides, you'll be living in a great house doing less work for the same amount of pay, you will only have one patient to look over and he really needs you. Look at him, Matt." The blonde spoke softly, trying to coax Matthew's head up.

"He's lost, Matthew. The poor kid is an orphan, without a home or friends, and to make all the matters worse, this Joker wants him dead. He needs you to keep him company and to teach him how to speak properly. Everything you did won't be for nothing."

Slowly but surely, Matthew looked up, his eyes that were becoming dark focused on the form of the huddled teen hiding behind his hat and slowly, Matthew nodded.

He read the rest about this Trafalgar Law, and the rest about Monkey D. Luffy, which he still thought was one of the weirdest names ever created, and learned that he and Luffy had come to be part of a family, the Whitebeards to be exact, a wealthy family that lived up in Colorado in a huge mansion. Apparently they were known for many things, though had a major role in the stock markets which has been the major factor that made them insanely rich.

Daddy Whitebeard tended to take in underprivileged children because he was one of the nicest people on this planet, obviously. Matthew wasn't too impressed by this, but back to the background stories. Luffy's story basically started there, and Matthew wondered vaguely if the teen was vaccinated since he was from Colombia. That's all he knew, but if the ragged appearance of the younger male was anything to go by, Matthew needed to know so that he could either do it himself or take him to the hospital.

Trafalgar Law's story was much lengthier, though not by much. He was all in all a basic Joe, had lived in NYC, studied at some community college, went the last two years at a 4 year college studied in child development and some language courses, apparently. Got his credentials in linguistics two years ago, did his required pre-teaching evaluations, passed them with an average score. Matthew had to snort at this information, they were making him seem so average it was ridiculous.

Matthew, if he did say so himself, was actually very smart, but there was no use telling this to any of these people, much less to the papers before him.

He then turned to Eric, "So what's your new life looking like? Are you going to be the cook at our new place?" Matthew snorted, knowing that the man was just as likely to burn down the entire kitchen as a pyromaniac. Not that the blonde liked playing with fire, fire liked playing with him, and it often set him ablaze... As a result, the entire kitchen had been off limits to Eric unless he was making something that didn't require heat. He wasn't even allowed to use the microwave without supervision.

"I'm a," the blonde had to a pause, scratching at his shaggy blonde hair. "I wont be going with you guys. I'll be going into the program as a government agent..."

Matthew's brows furrowed just as the car stopped. He opened his mouth to question the older man, to demand why they were being separated, why was the only connection to his old life was being severed right before his eyes, but Aokiji opened the doors and told Law and Luffy to get off. They would be going in one car, and Corazon would stay behind in the car that had brought them here.

"Let's go, Law, Luffy." the dark haired man of authority called out and began to guide the two into the other car that would make the trip to Colorado. Sadness clouded the wide blue eyes that Matthew had become so accustomed to seeing almost every day, the eyes of his best friend, who was now waving goodbye, his lips mouthing three simple words.

"I love you."

Matthew knew this was a strange thing to say between friends, he and Eric had been much more than friends ever since the man had taken him in all those 13 years ago after... well after things had seemed dark, when Matt had been unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel, Eric had shown up and made things better. And now he was gone.

Matthew knew he should have said it back, should have at least hugged the man that was more like a friendly father figure to him... but he didn't. At that moment, all of the night's events fell down on his shoulders and all he could muster was a weak wave of his hand.

Eric has said this wasn't forever, yet why did it feel so final?

Matt didn't know, but he detested the feeling. It was too late now, he and the teen were now in car number two and on their way to this Whitebeard Mansion, but he needed to tell Eric that he loved him too. Scrambling to his pocket, Matt felt his heart sink, his eyes widening as the sheer horror of that reality set in...

He no longer had his phone on him. It was one of the few things Aokiji had asked them for when the ride began, no doubt it was already wiped from existence, never to be heard of again. Heaving a sigh, Matthew's shoulders slumped and he gave up, letting his mind shut down while he pressed his forehead against the cool glass of the window, watching as everything got further away from him.

The ride to Colorado had lasted over a day, 29 hours to be exact and Matthew was frankly tired of everything, especially of Aokiji, the man he had come to associate his own bad luck with. He missed Eric or Cora or whoever he was now, but whining, bitching, and complaining wasn't going to help him now. The only thing he could do in this situation now was man up and do as Eric had told him.

Take care of Luffy, the boy that was leaning against him now, having passed out a good five hours ago.

* * *

 **And there you have it guys! We were ecstatic to know that you guys reacted well to the plot and were eager to find out what will happen to our beloved LawLu. So to thank you all here is the second installment.**

 **Emy: Thank you guys so much for reading, I hope the name changes weren't too confusing. From now on, they'll stick with their new names for the most part (:**

 **Tell us what you think, please? Also special thanks to all of you who read, favorited, followed and reviewed. You guys are SUPER awesome!**

 **"Dejame Ver" = "Let me see"**

 **"Tu nombre es Luffy, ahora" = "Your name is Luffy now."**

 **"Nombres" = "Names"**

 **"Carro" = "Car"**

 **To any of you that read this before the translations, I deeply apologize, feel free to hate me until the next chapter!**


	3. Lost and Found

**Hey, sorry for the wait, for a while I had legitimate reasons for not being able to write (real life responsibilities and all that), but then I just kinda procrastinated finishing it and then school started, and here we are, a month later. Leafy and I are still trying to figure out some kind of schedule, but hopefully it won't take this long to update again, so hang in there! As an apology, I made this chapter extra long for you guys (with some help from Leafy ofc), a little over 6k words! Enjoy (:**

 **Disclaimer, neither I nor Leafy own One Piece. Enjoy!~**

* * *

When they pulled up in front of Whitebeard's mansion, Law hadn't been sure what to expect. A grand stately mansion, maybe, with manicured lawns, perfectly trimmed hedges, and servants everywhere. Instead, he was standing in front of what looked like a normal mountain house standing tall on the side of a mountain, overlooking the valley below. Granted, it was much larger and nicer than an average house, but nothing about it screamed money at Law; there were no telltale signs that the owner was a wealthy millionaire. Warm, orange light poured from the windows, and Law could hear laughter and shouts coming from inside, breaking the muted silence around him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Law could see Luffy standing a few feet away, looking up at the sky with wonder. It had started to snow, and Law realized with a start that Luffy would have never seen snow before, growing up in Colombia. Colombia was located right above the equator after all, Luffy would have had tropical weather year round. Law watched with amusement as the teen tried to catch a snowflake, seemingly unaffected by the cold wind despite his thin clothing.

"Se llama nieve,*" he called out, surprising himself with the words. Luffy jumped and turned around to face him with wide eyes at the sudden sound, looking guilty as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been.

Law opened his mouth to speak again, but the driver of the car they came in, an odd-looking guy with wild green hair and a nose piercing, interrupted him, placing a hand on Law's shoulder.

"Come on, boys, let's head inside. It's cold out here, don't you think?" he asked casually and walked up to the front door of the house, rapping on the wood promptly.

Law hesitated, an acute feeling of apprehension pooling in the pit of his stomach as he realized that this was it. He had tried to mentally prepare himself for this moment in the car, but Law realized now that it may have all been in vain. Was he actually ready for this? He looked at Luffy again, and Law could see his own uneasiness mirrored in the teen's face. Cora's words came to Law's mind at that moment, telling him that this wasn't forever, that Luffy _needed_ Law, and Law steeled his nerves. Whatever was coming, he could take it. He would ride out these next few months, take care of Luffy, and when it was all over, Law would move back in with his best friend and.. well, what came after that, Law didn't know, but he would hang on until then.

He offered a small smile to the teen and walked up to him, gently taking hold of his wrist. Together, they went to stand next to the driver at the front door, and Law found comfort in knowing that Luffy was in the same boat as him, that at least he wasn't alone in this.

Inside the house, Law could hear bantering between a couple of residents, reminding him of his own childhood, all noise and ruckus.

"Marco! Get the door!" a voice called loudly.

"Ace! You get the door!" another voice, presumably Marco, replied evenly in the same tone.

"I'm busy!" Ace, the first voice, whined back, sounding muffled.

"Stuffing your face doesn't count as being busy," Marco replied cooly, and Ace sighed loudly, dragging the sound out excessively. Law heard footsteps coming towards them and he quickly wiped the smile from his face as a tall, muscular guy with scruffy black hair opened the door to greet them.

"Can I help you?"

"Hi, we're-" the driver began, fidgeting with his clipboard, but before he could finish, another tall blonde guy came up behind the one Law figured was Ace, interrupting him.

"They're probably the people Oyaji said would be staying with us, am I right?" He said, looking neutrally over the visitors.

"Yes, you are. Could you please take me to see Whitebeard? There are some things I'd like to talk with him about before I leave," the driver replied, seemingly unaffected by the other man's interruption.

"Sure, follow me. Get out of the way, Ace, it's cold outside. Not everybody can be a living furnace like you. Why don't you show them to one of the guest rooms, it's late after all," Marco teased and Ace stepped out of the way, but not without sending a halfhearted glare towards his friend. Law and the driver stepped eagerly inside, Luffy hesitating slightly before following suit, probably reluctant to leave the snow.

Once inside, the three of them found a large, inviting living room filled with squashy, comfortable looking couches and a huge flat screen TV quietly playing some movie. A few people were scattered on the couches, paying close attention to the movie, looking up only as Ace closed the door behind them. Law ignored their looks and tried to identify the movie. He'd never had much time to settle down and watch movies, what with his job keeping him so busy, so Law wasn't surprised when he drew a blank.

"So, my name's Ace, and Pineapple Head over there was Marco. What are your names?" Ace asked, and Law realized with surprise that their driver had already been led away to somewhere else in the house. He probably would have been upset about it at any other time, their driver had been the last tangible link to his old life in New York after all, but Law couldn't bring himself to care. Right now, all he wanted was to fall onto a nice, comfy bed and sleep for a couple of days at least.

"I'm Law, this is Luffy," Law introduced, careful to use their new names. He wasn't sure how much they knew about his and Luffy's situation, so he'd play it on the safe side until he found out.

"Nice to meet you. Welcome to la casa de Whitebeard," he said with a grin, motioning to the space around them. "I'll take you to your rooms, you're probably tired."

Ace led them through the dark house house effortlessly, down hallways and stairs and through rooms and even more hallways until Law was sure that he would never be able to find his way back out again. Eventually, they stopped in a dark, quiet corridor where Ace opened one of the doors, motioning for Law to go in.

"This'll be your room, Law. Luffy, that'll be yours," Ace supplied, pointing at the door right across the hall. "Let me know if there's anything you need!" He then walked away, leaving Law and Luffy standing alone in the hallway.

Luffy, of course, hadn't understood a word Ace had said, so Law repeated the man's words to him, in Spanish this time. Luffy glanced behind him at his room then back at Law, lips parted slightly like he wanted to say something, but instead he turned away, entering his room without a word.

Law stared after him, unsure what to make of the teen's hesitation. It had almost seemed like Luffy had wanted something from him, but hadn't Eric said the teen was mute? Law shook his head, sure that his tired mind was overanalyzing things. With a sigh, he entered his own room and collapsed onto the bed, quickly succumbing to sleep.

* * *

What felt like seconds later, Law was woken up by a sharp tapping on his door. He sat up instantly, rubbing at his eyes. How long had he been asleep?

"Come in," he called out, and the door opened, revealing Ace.

"Yo, so I'm supposed to tell you to take a shower and then I'll give you and Luffy a tour of the house."

"What time is it?" Law asked, stretching his arms above his head, relishing the burn it gave.

"Around one, maybe two?" Ace guessed, shrugging casually as if this was a normal occurrence.

"Shit!" Law jumped out of bed and ran to the dresser, frantically searching through the drawers for some clothes he could wear. Why hadn't his alarm woken him up, he could have sworn he'd set it before heading to bed. He was going to be late for work, and-

Oh yeah.

Law stopped trying to jam his leg into a pair of pants, remembering what had happened. He wasn't a doctor any more. The truth of it left him feeling like he just missed a step on the stairs and was tumbling forward. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, abruptly pulling Law from his thoughts. Ace was standing behind him, looking at Law with genuine concern on his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just- I usually... I wake up early, morning jogs, you know," Law lied feebly, the urge to be alone for a few minutes so he could come to terms with everything suddenly overpowering him.

"Okay?" Ace replied, looking less than convinced, but stepping back regardless. "I'll be waiting in the the hall off to the left, come get me when you're ready."

Ace left, the door clicking shut softly behind him and Law let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. This was going to be harder than he originally thought, trying to pretend he was someone else.

He showered quickly and threw on some clothes from the dresser before heading out into the hallway. He glanced at Luffy's room, wondering if the teen was awake yet. He stepped up to the door and knocked, but after a minute of silence Law decided he wasn't there. He turned away with a sigh and went to find Ace, spotting him in some sort of lounge area in the adjacent hall, sprawled out on a couch with Luffy sitting next to him stiffly in an armchair. Ace glanced up at Law's arrival and stood to greet him, Luffy doing the same, keeping his eyes on the ground. Law vaguely wondered how much the teen understood about what was happening right now, and he made a mental note to explain everything to him later, just to be sure.

"Hey, it's about time. Now let's get this tour started, starting at the most important and my personal favorite place, the kitchen!" Ace teased with a grin. Law shrugged noncommittally and followed Ace as they walked through the house, pointing out bedrooms, a game room, a library, and the massive living room where the front door was. Along the way, Law quietly repeated Ace's words to Luffy, hoping it would help the younger teen get around on his own.

Now that it was lighter, Law could see that the place wasn't set up much differently from a normal home, except this one was bigger and nicer with more rooms. He could easily map out the layout in his mind now, taking mental notes of quiet spots and the areas where people seemed to gather, just in case he ever needed that information in the future, which he was sure he would eventually. When Law read back in the car that the Whitebeards lived in a mansion, he had been expecting something like endless corridors for him to get hopelessly lost in and large, empty rooms full of stiff, egocentric people who rarely talked to each other. Instead, their home was warm and cozy, and everyone they met greeted them warmly, struck up casual conversations, generally seemed like nice people.

Despite the friendly atmosphere, Aokiji's suggestion that somebody he knew was a member of Joker's cartel was flitting around in the back of his mind, and Law found himself doubting their words, questioning what they were really thinking behind their smiles and pleasantries. He buried those feelings though and tried to be friendly. He was going to be living with them for a while after all, so he should at least try to like them, he wouldn't want to spend the entire time alone. Well, maybe he wouldn't be completely alone... Thinking of Luffy, Law allowed a small smile to grace his lips.

Speaking of Luffy, where was the teen? Throughout the afternoon he had kept behind Law, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he tried to keep track of all the information given to him, but now the space where he usually stood was empty, leaving Law with a bad feeling.

"Luffy?" he went back into the hallway they had just passed, but Luffy was gone, no where in sight.

"Luffy?" he called louder, but got no reply. Well duh, he realized. Luffy was mute, it's not like he could reply even if he wanted to. Great. Law continued backtracking, looking through the rooms they'd already passed, but there was no sign of the younger teen.

"What are you doing?" Ace came up behind Law, looking confused.

"Luffy's disappeared," Law explained. Ace looked surprised for a moment, but it wasn't long before his easy grin slipped back onto his face.

"Oh. Well he couldn't have gone far, and it's not like he's in any danger. I'll tell the others to keep an eye out for him and he'll turn up," Ace reasoned. "Keep looking, I'll be back."

Law nodded and Ace turned around a corner and disappeared. Law continued wandering through the house for what felt like hours, calling Luffy's name, occasionally running into other people who looked as confused as Law felt. The building wasn't that big, Luffy should have turned up somewhere, especially with the entire family searching for him, but it was like he'd just vanished. At some point while on his search, Law overheard a conversation between Ace and Marco, the tall blonde guy from before. They were whispering urgently about something, it had to do with "outside" and "the forest". Law didn't hear much else but it put him on edge, and he picked up his search for Luffy with a renewed sense of urgency. Where was he?

* * *

Luffy slowly came to somewhere dark and cramped. He yawned and hazily wondered how he had gotten there, but before he knew it, sleep claimed him again and he didn't try to fight it.

When he woke up again, Luffy felt much better. He sat up and stretched his arms, accidentally hitting something above him. He jumped back in surprise with a silent cry as something heavy and soft fell on him, and the wall behind him gave way from the sudden pressure. Luffy tumbled backwards onto the floor of an enclosed space, his limbs tangled in the attacking thing and feeling very disoriented.

After a few very confusing moments of trying to remember what was going on, Luffy let out a noiseless giggle as he remembered. Oh yeah. La had been following that guy around, Ace? Was that his name? He's pretty sure it is. Anyways, Luffy had been following behind La, not sure what they wanted him to do, but trying his best to remember all the words La had told him. Man this place was big, and after a while of walking around, all the words in Luffy's head had started spinning and he wanted to take a nap. He couldn't sleep though, he hadn't been given permission by that one guy yet.

But he wasn't here as far as Luffy could tell, so did that mean he could never sleep again? Luffy had started to panic before realizing that all he had to do was go look for the guy and ask if he could sleep. He had to be around here somewhere, right? So off Luffy had wandered, looking for him.

After a few minutes of searching, Luffy realized that he was hopelessly lost. He could hear voices calling out his new name, getting both closer and farther at the same time, and not knowing why they were calling for him made Luffy nervous. If someone was looking for him, then that meant he wasn't where he was supposed to be, which meant he had been bad, which meant that he was going to be punished. He didn't want to be punished!

The people here had acted nice and smiled at him, but now that he messed up, they were mad at him, Luffy thought sadly.

"Luffy!" someone called, and they were _right around the corner._ Luffy did the only thing he could think of; he jumped back and ran the opposite way, not wanting to get in trouble. As he rounded a corner, he almost ran into somebody's back, and Luffy frantically skidded to a silent stop and sprinted the other way,fearfully hoping that they hadn't seen him. He was lucky that he had learned how to move quietly and smoothly in that other place, to avoid being noticed. Luffy escaped successfully, but with so many people in the house, the pattern of almost running into someone and getting away before they noticed, only to almost run into somebody else kept repeating, and with each encounter, Luffy was becoming more and more panicked. He felt surrounded, like they knew where he was but everyone was just playing with him, making him believe he was safe. Everywhere he went, there was another person, shouting his new name.

Luffy was running down yet another hall when a voice ahead of him called out something he couldn't understand. Luffy froze and turned around, ready to run again, but another voice from where he just came from answered back, moving towards him. Luffy looked around frantically, searching for somewhere to hide. To his relief, there was a closed door to his left, and Luffy dove inside, shutting it quietly. He then backed up to the far corner of the room, holding his breath when he heard the two people stop right outside the door. Luffy couldn't understand what they were saying, but they seemed worried and frustrated. Frustration was not good, it never led to anything but punishment and sometimes hunger.

To his right, there was some kind of tall, narrow box with a knob in the middle, almost like a door. Luffy examined it curiously, why would people want to go inside a box? There was nowhere to go inside, and it looked so _small_ -

Luffy's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorknob to the room being jiggled, and his heart leaped into his throat. He pulled on the knob to the box frantically, and when it opened, he dove inside without a second thought, pulling the door closed and casting him into darkness.

With bated breath, Luffy listened as the door to the room opened, and a person walked inside, muttering to themselves. After what felt like forever, the person left and Luffy let out the breath he had been holding. As the adrenaline from his close encounter subsided, Luffy felt his drowsiness from before creeping in, and that's how he fell asleep in the cramped box.

Now, Luffy was sprawled out on the floor, tangled up in what he realized was a large, poofy blanket. Blinking owlishly at the object, Luffy wondered what to do next. How long had he been asleep? Were they still looking for him? Oh, he was going to be in so much trouble, why hadn't he just let himself be found, he wouldn't have been punished as much! Stupid, stupid, stupid! And now he was hungry but he couldn't leave or they'll find him, wouldn't they?

Luffy untangled himself and stood up. After quickly folding the blanket and returning it to the shelf he knocked it down from, he turned around before realizing that the door had just vanished.

No, it wasn't gone, it couldn't have just disappeared, so that meant he was in some other room now. Curiously, Luffy glanced around the space he was currently in. He couldn't see very well, but standing in the center, Luffy could brush the walls to his left and right with his fingertips. The other walls he could reach with a small step forwards or back. When he reached up, his hand smacked the ceiling painfully, meaning it was just above his head.

Feeling around some more, Luffy found that the wall to his right was not as solid as the others. With a furrowed brow, Luffy pushed against it with a little more force and was rewarded with it actually giving way, but to what? Curiosity drove him forward into the darkness beyond the small area. Feeling around blindly, his hands reached out until they brushed against some kind of string hanging from the ceiling, and when he pulled it, a light bulb flickered on, casting the room in soft, yellow light. Blinking harshly against the bare bulb, Luffy examined the room further, noticing a soft-looking chair in the corner with some pillows and a warm blanket. There was a box sitting next to the chair, and Luffy went to open it, but he heard a small sound then, and Luffy remembered his predicament.

Silently promising to come back later, Luffy went back through the hole in the wall that he fell out of. With the light, Luffy could see the door he came through originally and ducked through it, ending up in the other room. Carefully, he closed the door to the secret room and shut the box too, making sure no light shined through. Once he was satisfied that nobody would find the secret room, Luffy crept up to the room's door silently, pressing his ear against the smooth wood. He couldn't hear people calling for him any more, which was good, but he couldn't stay in here forever, and going out meant being found, which was bad. He'd just have to be sneaky then.

With a deep breath, he quietly opened the door and poked his head out. Seeing nobody, Luffy crept out into the hallway and started down one end. As he continued walking through the house, Luffy grew increasingly confident seeing as he had not encountered anyone thus far. If they had stopped looking, did that mean they had forgotten about him? He didn't know.

The moment Luffy walked into a big room, the incredible smell of food washed over him, making him wonder how long it had been since he'd last eaten. With a grin, he followed the scent until he found another large room, where a tall man was standing in front of a big metal box?

The man turned around before Luffy could back out, and dread slammed into him as he recognized the man to be the guy La was following around earlier, Ace.

He'd been caught.

Luffy braced himself, preparing his whole frame to withstand the punishment he was sure to receive, but when no blow came, Luffy opened his eyes tentatively. Ace didn't look like he was angry as far as Luffy could tell, just surprised. Ace said something, sounding relieved, but Luffy stared blankly at him, not understanding, and Ace frowned and muttered a bit before asking Luffy roughly if he was hungry.

Luffy backed up until he was flush against the wall, sure the question was a trick. He had been taunted with food before back at that place, every time he reached out for it he would just be hit until he gave up and then hit some more for giving up. If he didn't eat, he would get hit for not being able to keep up with the others, but if he asked for food he was hit too? It was all very confusing, but Luffy was already used to being hungry so after a while he just stopped asking. He knew how to conserve energy, how to work with aching hunger in his stomach, how to ignore his fatigue.

Ace was still looking at Luffy expectantly as he thought on it, and slowly, Luffy shook his head. Ace seemed nice, but Luffy wasn't going to let his hopes up, no matter how good the food smelled.

Ace frowned at the rejection and repeated the question skeptically. Luffy shook his head again, but his stomach growled loudly, giving him away. Ace frowned further, and Luffy wondered wildly if no had been the wrong answer.

Ace noticed the teen's trepidation and he put his hands up, smiling reassuringly.

"Ven, cocina conmigo,"*" he invited, and oh Luffy wanted to. He was starving, he wanted to eat, Ace wasn't mad at him, so that must mean he was allowed, but still! He hadn't directly been given permission yet!

Luffy was so torn that he didn't notice when La walked into the kitchen.

* * *

Law was tired. He had spent all day looking for Luffy, searching every single room in the house twice over, even forgoing lunch to instead continue searching. Hell, he'd even checked outside around the house and into the surrounding forest, yelling Luffy's name until his voice had gone hoarse and his fingers were numb. He was worried sick about the kid. Where in the world could he have gone?

"Stop worrying so much, there's not very many places he could have disappeared to. He'll have to get hungry eventually, right? And when he does, he'll show up. I have to get started on dinner, it's my turn to cook tonight," Ace had told him, and Law hadn't felt very reassured by the thought, but he hadn't stopped the other man as he walked away.

After another hour or so of searching, Law's hunger finally won out, and he decided to take a break from searching, just for a little while. It would be dinner soon, so Law headed inside to find Ace and maybe help out with dinner if it wasn't done yet. He walked into the kitchen, only finding Ace standing in front of a very nervous-looking Luffy. Law stared at the scene blankly. More specifically, he stared at Luffy. After all that time Law spent searching for Luffy, he was just here, in the kitchen? Judging from the color of Luffy's skin, Law figured he'd never even gone outside. But where could he possibly have hidden inside the house that Law hadn't checked?

"Luffy?" he sputtered. Luffy turned towards Law at the sound of his name, his eyes widening when he spotted the older man standing in the doorway. After a moment of shocked silence, Law felt his worry from before turn to disbelief, and then anger.

"Where have you _been_?!" Law shouted, stalking across the room until he was up in Luffy's face. "I've spent all day looking for you, do you have any idea how worried I've been? The entire house has been searching for you, and they're all worried sick, some of them are still outside trying to find you, hoping you haven't gotten lost or hurt in the forest! What the hell have you been doing this entire time?!" Law paused to catch his breath, but no answer came. A thought nagged at him him part of him knowing Luffy could not follow his words, but Law ignored the thought as his anger surged. "You know what, the only way we couldn't have found you by now is if you've been avoiding us! How old are you, five? It's not funny to just disappear for hours on end!" Law spat and took another deep breath, ready to continue, but Ace stopped him.

"Law, I know you're angry and all that, but you're standing in front of the stove and it's time to serve dinner. Can you do this another time?" Ace asked, looking at Law pointedly. Law opened his mouth to argue, but his stomach rumbled loudly, and he remembered just how hungry he was. He looked back at Luffy, noticing that the teen had become as stiff as a board, his head bowed slightly, long hair shadowing his eyes. Law felt his anger dissipate at the sight, leaving behind mild irritation. Of course he was still irritated, Law had searched every single nook and cranny both inside and outside the fucking had spent all day looking for Luffy, and he just casually appears in the kitchen? Hell no Law was not going to forgive and forget, at least not until he figures out where the hell Luffy had been hiding and why.

Law sighed heavily and walked out of the kitchen, Luffy following closely behind, neither saying a word.

* * *

 _I failed._

The thought bounced around Luffy's mind as he followed Law out of the room where Ace and the food was. Corazon had told him to behave, to listen to La, and what did Luffy do? He ran away, he fell asleep without permission, and now La was angry with him. La hadn't punished Luffy once yet, which was strange, but he knew not to let his guard down. 'Never Let Your Guard Down' was the first lesson Luffy learned in that place he stayed in for a long time. Letting down his guard left him vulnerable to thieves and attackers. Luffy decided that would be ready for whatever punishment La decided to give him; he deserved it, after all.

They ended up in the room with lots of couches that they arrived in last night. A few people were scattered about, talking amongst themselves, and with a loud frustrated noise, La dropped onto the couch next to a guy with messy, yellow hair. Unsure of what to do with himself, Luffy moved to the nearest wall and watched as the guy talked to La. Luffy could see the worry and frustration on La's face, and Luffy felt the disappointment and anger towards himself and the dread he held towards Law's reaction settle into fierce determination.

No. Luffy wasn't going to mess up again, he wasn't. He was somewhere new now, and so far it was nothing like the other places he'd been to. Luffy wanted La to like him, and he would do whatever it took to make it happen. Back straightening with a new sense of purpose, Luffy swore to himself and to La that he would make it up to the older man, no matter what.

Luffy spent the next couple days on his best behavior; he made sure to stay out of La's way but never left his sight, to make it easier for La to keep track of him. He tended to Law's every need, finding him food whenever he might be hungry, getting a blanket when he looked cold; he tried to stay on top of everything so La wouldn't even have to ask. As a rule, Luffy would always wait for La to get his food first at meals before taking his own small serving, in case La wanted more later. He cleaned La's room every day, making sure that it was spotless with all of the dirty clothes put away and not a single wrinkle on the bed sheet. Luffy would never admit it, but taking care of La was quickly becoming more than he could handle, especially since Law would frown at him whenever Luffy did anything for him, meaning that Luffy had screwed up again somehow.

Despite his best efforts, Luffy could tell that was La was still mad. If anything, he was angrier now than he was when Luffy fell asleep that first day. By this point, the older man was refusing everything Luffy tried to do for him, and quite honestly, the teen was becoming desperate. No matter how polite Luffy was, no matter how much he tried to help, no matter how happy he tried to look, nothing was working. Luffy never thought a day would come when he would be anxiously awaiting a punishment. He didn't like La holding back, cause all it meant was his anger would build until it exploded, making everything worse. He'd much rather La beat on him now and get it all out of his system than this infuriating routine of angry looks but no action.

Another day passed, and Luffy was reaching his breaking point. He'd gotten no sleep the previous night, so he'd spent the whole day fighting his sleepiness, watching Law for any signs that he needed something, and when somebody shouted something across the house, Luffy couldn't help jumping a foot in the air from the sudden noise. He'd been nodding off again.

He didn't know what the person was saying, but if the amazing smell of food was anything to go off of, Luffy figured there was going to be a meal soon. His guess was proven right when he followed La out of one of the sitting rooms, leading him into the room with the big table where the people of the house ate all of its meals. On the table was a wide layout of food, and Luffy almost drooled at the sight of it sitting there, waiting for him to eat. He restrained himself from jumping on it like he wanted to though, he wasn't going to upset La any more than he already was by eating everything.

Luffy shook his head tiredly and rushed to his usual seat next to La waiting for the rest of the people in the house to gather. Why he even had a seat, Luffy didn't know, but Ace had insisted, and it's more comfortable than the floor or standing, so Luffy didn't argue. When everybody finally arrived and started piling food onto their plates, Luffy waited until he was sure that everybody had gotten what they wanted before getting something for himself. He barely paid attention to what he was eating though, and with his cheek resting in his hand and eyelids drooping, Luffy let his mind race with ways to get La to forgive him. Everything he tried only seemed to irritate La more, and by now, Luffy was out of ideas. Wasn't there anything he could do right? Luffy felt his throat tighten with disappointment and self-hatred, and he stabbed at his food aggressively. How had he screwed things up so _bad_? Why was he such a failure? Luffy felt a sob rise in his chest, but he choked it down, determined not so show weakness. Weakness was bad, it always led to bad things, usually more punishment.

He was so preoccupied with his own thoughts, he barely noticed when the conversation at the table picked up. He did notice, however, when somebody slammed their fist on the table and stood up. Luffy jumped at the abrupt sound and glanced up, realizing how loud the table had gotten. Everyone was talking to the person next to them, and when laughter broke out across the room, the guy who stood up flushed. Luffy had seen him plenty times before, but he didn't know his name. He dressed like a woman, which Luffy thought was strange, but nobody ever mentioned it, so he said nothing. And Luffy wasn't sure, but he thought something looked off about the man. What it was though, Luffy couldn't decide. With a laugh, another guy with short, brown hair stood up and faced the woman-guy, shouting something and trying to be heard over the noise, his hands held up in a defensive position. The woman-guy shouted something back, louder than before, their words making no sense all to Luffy, but he could tell the woman-guy was angry.

All at once, Luffy could hear the clinking of forks on plates as people continued to eat, the bursts of laughter from others, people pounding on the table as they watched the argument, and above it all, the two guys' shouting rushing towards him all at once. He heard them all before, it's not like everyone started making noise at the same time, but more like everything he had been hearing was suddenly magnified, leaving Luffy dazed. In an attempt to block out some of the sound, Luffy flattened his hands around his ears, latching onto his hair so tightly that it hurt. The hands over his ears helped some, but now Luffy could hear his heavy, pounding heartbeat on top of everything else, and it was all _too much_.

He couldn't think straight with all of this sound, he wanted to jump up and yell for everyone to be quiet, or maybe to curl up and die, his thoughts were too scattered for him to decide. As the seconds dragged on with no sign of letting up, Luffy vaguely noticed his breathing pick up, and he suddenly felt like he wasn't getting enough oxygen. On top of all that, he could still hear the impossible amount of sound coming from the room around him, and-

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Luffy felt a hand on his knee, noticed how he had scrunched up into a tiny ball in his chair, heard someone shout something, grabbing everyone's attention and making them be quiet, but he was far too gone to acknowledge it anymore. He had the strangest sense of vertigo, like he was experiencing everything from outside his body, and Luffy welcomed the sensation, gladly accepting anything to distract him.

* * *

 **Okay, so as Emy said, we're so sorry for the late update, but things happen. Hopefully we figure out a way to work something out, but until then please bear with us.**

 **the translations for this chapter include:**

 **It's called snow***

 **Come, cook with me***

 ***and in case you didn't catch on, Luffy believes Law's name is spelled "La" since that's how it would sound like.***

 **and lastly in response to a review ^^ we appreciate your comment and thank you so much for it, but tu and su mean the same thing, it can be you or yours depending on the wording, su is simply the "formal" way of addressing superiors or the elderly.**

 **Also a quick little riddle for you guys: What is broken when the word is spoken?**

 **Let us know your answer to the riddle and you could get a sneak peek to the next chapter (if you want it).**

 **Sorry for the long AN and thank you all for reading, favoriting, following and reviewing. We'll see you next time!~**


	4. The Aftermath

**Again we are so sorry for the wait! We are still trying to work something out, we will (eventually) have a set or semi reliable schedule. Until then please enjoy the update!**

 **Neither Emy nor I own One Piece or any other referenced media. Enjoy!~**

* * *

On the night of Law's explosive anger, he had wanted nothing more than to call everything quits. If Luffy wasn't going to take things seriously as he should, then what was the point in staying there? Law had no direct connection to the kid, or the cartel for that matter, so there was no logical reason for Law to even be involved with a criminal organization. He was a freaking doctor for crying out loud, he helped people, not killed them!

Law had wanted to remain angry with Luffy, he had thought Luffy was just making a mess out of things, or worse, he's part of the Cartel and escaped the hideout to tell them of the actions of Witness Protection. Law didn't know what to think honestly, and that did nothing to help his nerves, which were shot beyond help. This mess, along with having just lost his entire identity and best friend was taking its toll on the young surgeon's emotional health. Everything was just too much, anger and guilt rolled around in the surgeon's stomach as he sighed and joined the rest of the household, convinced that he wasn't about to calm down any time soon.

Eventually Law felt the guilt build increasingly until it washed away most of his anger. Strangely enough, this turn of events was brought on after he had had a talk with Marco. The blonde man was interestingly enough very perceptive of the things going on around him and had offered Law some pretty good advice, Law even dared to believe that this blonde gave better advice than Eric- no, his name was Cora now. He still hasn't gotten used to the idea of his friend's new name yet. Marco explained how he had taken notice of the way Luffy more or less clung to Law's shadow and how any sudden noise would make the young teen jump for no obvious reason. Marco couldn't put his finger on it exactly, but as he watched the teen, Law could see sympathy shining in those low lidded blue eyes.

Law's own gaze had travelled to Luffy then, remembering how he had acted in the car, and shame washed over Law The teen had been frightened around Aokiji, Cora, Law, and even the driver of their car! Maybe the reason he had hid was not to be selfish, but because he was scared. Law had sighed and resolved to make it up to the kid after dinner.

Law's plan never went into action though. Luffy continued to avoid Law's gaze and he refused to acknowledge any initiatives Law took to start a conversation, choosing to instead busy himself with tasks and other things. What was supposed to be a quick amendment of the situation resulted in Law being returned to square one where he had grown progressively angrier during the days that had followed the incident.

Everything that Luffy was doing for him was not helping his mood. Ever since Law had yelled at Luffy in the kitchen the teen had done nothing more than to meekly obey everything Law said, and even went as far as to do every little thing thing for him. There had even been a moment where Luffy had actually tried to _tie_ Law's shoes. Did the teen really think Law was incapable of doing even that minimal task? Was this kid playing him for a fool?

Law didn't know, he didn't know a lot, apparently.

And so the actions progressed. Luffy trailed after Law, and Law was forced to watch him shrink and cower away from him whenever he approached or tried to speak to the teen. Seriously, what was his deal?

By the night of the family dinner, Law no longer bothered with telling Luffy to back off and let him get his own damned food. Law had asked him multiple times in both english and spanish, but of course the raven haired teen refused to listen, only serving to annoy Law further. Not that the teen seemed to care, because he continued to do what Law told him not to.

With a resigned sound, Law started to eat, his gray eyes looking over the family-esque individuals as they sat around the table. Law had taken some time to study the way they interacted with one another over the past few days, and he was met with an interesting sight. All of the people in the household got along really well, and he's not talking about some sort of roommate bond, but more like the sort of living arrangement he and Cora used to share. The atmosphere was friendly, familial, and strangely comforting in a way that only served to remind him of what he had lost. Nostalgia had a funny way of making even situations like his not so bad and bearable.

Law was lost in his musings towards the family when it happened.

He had been absently listening to the others as they engaged in their usual banters. Law would at times find himself joining in on their chats—they weren't bad people after all, and most of them were more than willing to allow him to enter in their conversations. But tonight, Law wasn't feeling up for it, choosing instead to busy himself with his own thoughts before a slam to the table brought him back to the present.

"How many times must I tell you, Haruta, to not mess with my belongings!" Izo, the usually gentle mannered individual cried out from her spot at the table, glaring daggers at the youngest in the house. "Putting HAIR REMOVAL in my conditioner is unforgivable!" she cried out, a clump of hair clenched tightly in her fist.

The round of laughter that Izo received with her accusation made her flush, her expression growing angrier. The one in question, Haruta, laughed merrily at his sister's expense. Law had never had much dealings in sibling rivalry—at least none he looked back on with a frown. He cherished all of the moments he had shared with Lamie; the good and the bad, they were all precious to him—so he could not find it in himself to sympathize with either party, nor laugh along with the rest of the household.

The youngest member of the house stood, and with the most innocent look he could muster, he pouted, shouting over the rest of the noise around the table, hands thrown up in the air defensively. "That's not fair, Izo! What makes you think that I did it?!"

"Who else would it have been?!" Izo screeched, advancing on the younger boy. "Who else would _do_ such a thing!"

"Hey, maybe Ace did it!" Haruta stated confidently, to which the raven in question stopped in his face stuffing and joined in on the shouting match.

"Oi! I had no part in this, don't drag me down with you, Haruta. I was out most of the day!" Ace roared after swallowing his course and sending the younger boy a smoldering glare.

Haruta seemed undeterred by this and gave Ace a shrug. "Who said you did it today, maybe you did it yesterday?"

"I swear to god, Ace if it was you—"

"IT WASN'T ME! Tell her Marco!" The young raven turned to the oldest of the group for help.

"Don't drag me into this either Ace, you know you are a highly probable suspect, yoi," the blonde stated calmly and continued to eat his meal as if the sudden outburst was a normal occurrence in the household, which Law figured, probably was.

Ace blushed and turned away. "I didn't do it _this_ time though! The last prank I pulled was back when Thatch—" he stopped abruptly, but Law could see he had already dug a grave for himself.

"That was you!" the redhead bellowed from across the table, no longer laughing his ass off at the ensuing conversation, his dark brown eyes coming to land on the gulping freckled teen.

Arguments started getting louder and louder, and the surgeon who was caught in the midst of all household drama sighed as he readied himself to just turn in for the night. He wasn't all that hungry anyways, and he could never finish all of the food that Luffy piled onto his plate. Law usually gave everything he didn't eat to Ace, who could surprisingly eat more than his fair share of the cooked meal. Maybe that was why he was continuously on cooking duty? Or he owed Thatch, as some people told Law when they caught him checking into the kitchen to see if he could be of some help.

Law pushed his chair back to stand up when he was frozen in the action, Marco's voice cutting through the rest of the noise. "Oi, quiet!' the voice was gentle yet commanding, making all of the members turn in Marco's direction, Law's gray eyes included, where they landed upon a distressed Luffy.

The teen was curled into himself in his chair, his hands clamped tightly over his ears, small delicate fingers digging into his hair as he tried to block out the sounds that had been booming across the room up until very recently.

Law, immediately going into doctor mode, walked over to where Marco, Ace, and Luffy were, the blonde gently speaking soothing words to the young raven. "Luffy, can you hear me? Luffy, yoi."

"He's having a panic attack," Law informed the gathered group, kneeling next to Marco. "Give him some space," he added, addressing the rest of the group.

Law ignored the suspicious look he received from a certain freckled youth who protested, "Law, he's scared, I don't think he wants to be alone through that."

Gray eyes narrowed as Law looked down to Ace, was he seriously being questioned over his knowledge of being a doctor? He hadn't gone through med school and received all those degrees to be overlooked by some guy miles and miles away from his home. But Law bit his tongue, remembering that he was not a doctor here.

"Hey Lu, you're okay, none of that was bad shouting, we just had a few differences. Luffy, _me entiendes_?"* Ace said gently his hand reaching out to touch Luffy's shoulder.

Law saw the twitch in Luffy's posture as the hand landed on his shoulder, he saw how Luffy shrunk away from the touch and further into himself, the action was an obvious red flag that Luffy was not going to react well to physical touches in this state.

Before he could warn the other, Ace did what was meant to be avoided at all costs; He took Luffy into his arms. "Luffy, _no te preucupes, todo esta bien.*"_

Law saw the moment Luffy froze in Ace's arms, he watched as Luffy's eyes—which had been previously closed—burst open to gaze around frantically. Haunted, bloodshot eyes were blown wide to the point where the thinnest ring of brown around the pupil was the only thing visible in them. Everything happened at once in that moment, and Law saw a flash of metal from the corner of his eye.

A second later, a spoon collided with Ace's arm, digging into the freckled flesh and making the older teen yelp and pull back, Marco crying out in surprise. "Oi, Luffy!"

But Luffy wasn't listening, his frantic gaze turned to the spoon in his hand and he let it fall to the floor numbly. The action caused Law to think that Luffy may have realized that he had done something wrong, but Luffy's next action suggested otherwise. Instead of backing off, Luffy—in the quickest movement Law had ever seen—reached into his sock and pulled out an object that Law remembered well.

No one else seemed to notice this, for all of their attention was focused on Ace who was nursing his injured arm. Law knew for a fact that he would be sporting a nasty bruise for a couple of days, but other than that he would be fine. Law, on the other hand, did see Luffy and it was he who reached out to capture the teen's wrist, earning an animalistic growl that brought everyone to look at him once more.

Luffy glared at Law, his lip curling back to reveal his teeth—the action of course meant to be menacing—a warning telling him to back off, but Law didn't let go even as Luffy pulled against his hold. "Luffy!" Law kept his voice calm but authoritative as he was taught those many years back in his brief study of common medical practice that the best way to snap them out of certain episodes was talk them through it, and if restraint was necessary, then to never falter.

" _Escuchame, Luffy! Mira me, estas bien nada te va a pasa_ r.*" Law repeated the many verses he had been forced to learn to calm his other patients, though with Luffy, he found that he actually meant what he said.

Law received another growl in turn as the teen attempted to break free once more. " _Luffy aqui estas a salvo_!*" Law said slowly, making sure the words would be heard.

That sentence seemed to do the trick as Luffy stared at Law incredulously, his mouth parted slightly letting out ragged breaths, and his whole frame which had been shaking before was now racked with tremors as tears formed in the terrified gaze.

Law watched as a full range of emotions flashed through the teen's features as he blinked up at Law, trying to confirm if Law was lying to him or not, a small trace of hope rising in those chocolate eyes. Law didn't have to wonder what Luffy was searching for in his own gray eyes, and how he knew, he had no idea but he made damn sure to give his answer. " _Yo te cuidare, Luffy.*_ "

The butterknife fell to the floor at those words and the next thing Law knew, a rib crushing hug was forced on him, a raven head collided with his jaw and jammed itself into his throat, effectively knocking the wind out of Law and knocking him back slightly before a pair of hands caught and steadied him. Law wasn't a big fan of physical affection, yet, despite the sudden and unanticipated attack on his person, Law found himself returning the hold, gently rubbing the young raven's back.

"Good going, yoi." Marco murmured and released Law.

Law nodded absently and excused himself, not comfortable at all with the round of stares he and Luffy were receiving. "You might want to put some ice on that, Ace-ya. It will ease the pain at best, but expect a serious bruise and tendon aches, a pressure point may have been struck."

Law missed the narrowing of Ace's eyes who was crowded by Marco then, the blonde calling out to Izo to get a pack of ice from the freezer.

As Law was carrying Luffy through the halls he noticed a… particular odor offending his nostrils, one that caused him to swallow thickly resisting the scowl that wanted to form. Now that he thought about it, he had never once seen Luffy leave his side long enough to actually visit the restroom for more than five minutes. Could it be that the teen hadn't had a proper cleaning until now?

Sighing, Law peeked down to notice that Luffy had indeed calmed down, but he was still awake, his large brown eyes downcast and closed off to the rest of the world. "What am I going to do with you, Luffy-ya?" Law hummed, entering Luffy's room where he knew his private restroom was.

* * *

Luffy didn't know what was happening, his heart was still racing in his chest and La no longer seemed mad at him, he… La said he would take care of Luffy, that Luffy was safe, and with that Luffy had been able to calm down and was now resting comfortably against La.

His eyes were trained on the floor as they walked down the halls with Luffy against La's chest. It was comforting to know that La was no longer mad at him, that Luffy was no longer in danger of being beaten and rejected by La, at least for the time being.

Luffy truly felt safe now—for for the first time in a long while, Luffy felt secure.

The smallest hint of a smile lit up Luffy's features as he rested against the chest that held him, La's scent comforting and putting him further at ease. It was weird, but the man smelled good, a weird combination of… he couldn't exactly place it but that didn't matter because Luffy liked it and that was enough.

So lost was Luffy in his musings about his comfort and the security that it brought to him, that he hadn't even noticed that La had stepped over the threshold of the forbidden place. It wasn't until he heard the affirmative thud of the door being closed and the sound rushing water following a few moments later that Luffy realized what was about to happen. Luckily, the metallic clink of the lock being set in place didn't follow. There was still time.

La noticed the sudden change in Luffy, his gray eyes looking down to glance at his tense form. "Luffy?"

But Luffy was not listening to him, the trembling had returned and with much more force this time, his eyes closed off to the world the moment the door had banged shut, and the moment that the world tilted was when La bent to turn on the cold, cold water. The water was always cold and unforgiving.

Luffy struggled out of La's hold, protesting sounds rising into full blown incoherent cries. Luffy had tried to keep in the yells, he really had, but he wasn't able to! Luffy had never been able to hold in the animalistic screams whenever it came to this room. He never liked this room, it was bad.

La had said he was safe! And Luffy had believed him, why had he believed that La was actually good? That he was—that La was different and that he actually cared for Luffy. Nobody ever cared about him, why would that change now?

"Luffy, what's wrong, Luffy?" La asked as Luffy fell from his arms, scrambling on the floor and backing away from the man before him. He was sure that his eyes clearly displayed the pure horror that was currently overtaking every single one of his thoughts. Luffy kicked and swatted at the hands that came towards him, he was too focused on the sound of rushing water, listening as it pooled and gathered in the white round thing… he forgot what it was called.

Luffy continued to push himself back, his bare feet slipping on the tile and rumpling the pieces of scattered carpet, on and on he pushed back until his back hit a wall.

"Luffy! _Escuchame Luffy, todo esta bien_.*" he heard La say again, trying to reach out for Luffy, but the younger raven only shook his head furiously even as the other man continued to try and get Luffy's attention, but Luffy wouldn't budge. When this sort of stuff happened, he just curled into a ball, became a smaller target and hoped that his assailant would resort to beating him instead of _that_.

The beatings were more tolerable than the water. At least he knew that he could continue to function after a beating, but the water… it did things to Luffy—bad things. His strength drained, his chest hurt awfully bad, and he could never tell how long he was out or what had happened while he was away from his body.

The sloshing of water stopped suddenly, and Luffy's body went cold. He froze in his huddled corner, his eyes opening despite the warnings his mind was screaming at him, it would be better if just he pretended that he was knocked out. La crouched in front of him and Luffy flinched back, unaware that his eyes had started leaking tears without his permission. Tears were a weakness, tears meant that it would only get worse. His weakness to these sessions always angered _him_ , the man with the black mirror over his eyes.

"Hey no, shhh, Lu…" the man before him gently called out, and Luffy could see the warmth in those eyes, the concern. The feelings in those gray eyes looked so inviting, so genuine, something Luffy had seen before. Trembling, Luffy shook his head again, biting his lip. His eyes pleaded La to not do it, to reconsider.

La frowned as he sat back and pushed his hair aside, his deep tenor voice speaking words Luffy could not follow.

"I swear if I didn't know any better I would think that you're afraid of the water." La looked over to the thing filled with water, and Luffy followed his gaze warily. "But what would make you afraid of a bath?"

Luffy was left to count his breaths as he wrenched his eyes away from La and to the door, there was a small, tiny chance that he could escape, he still had his other butter knives, all he would need to do was stick the end in La's chest and he could escape, as easy as that.

But Luffy didn't want to hurt La, and the blonde guy that smiled a lot at him had said that La was his new friend. But if La was his friend then why was he doing this? Friends didn't do that to each other, that much Luffy knew.

As Luffy was contemplating all of these thoughts, La rocked back onto his heels, his eyes roaming the floor and the thing that held the water captive. "He does know what a bath is, right…?" he muttered and gray eyes narrowed, "Surely Colombia isn't that far into poverty?"

Releasing an exasperated huff, La turned back to Luffy, hands raised to show that he meant no harm, and in a mess of jumbled up spanish and explanations, he did his best to tell Luffy that well, he smelled bad.

Luffy had merely stared at him owlishly, what did he mean he smelled bad? He knew that he didn't smell like La, but he didn't smell bad. No offense was taken of course, but the observation was odd; no one had ever told him that before. Luffy had always smelled this way and so had most of the other people he had met along the way.

And so because Luffy smelled weird, La continued to explain to Luffy what would happen next, first by asking him if he knew what a bath was, what the water was for and then showing him some weird little block that smelled like La!

Fear and mistrust quickly turned into hesitant curiosity for the teen as he gingerly took the block of smooth stone, wondering what he should do with it. In that moment La reached behind him to stick his hand in the water and pulled it out, dripping droplets of water along Luffy's sock covered ankles before he rubbed the bar with the water and Luffy swore that the smell of the thing got stronger, not only that though, it also… bubbles were growing on it!

Luffy knew he must have made a comical reaction, that his eyes were huge and stars were lighting them up because La laughed, and Luffy found himself mesmerized by the sound. La's laugh was odd at first, but it quickly warmed Luffy, his own smile brightening his features and a small 'shi' left him quietly under his breath. Too long had it been since Luffy had let that sound out, the man with the black mirrors didn't like it and neither did the other one, but with La, Luffy could maybe possibly be truly safe with La.

Reaching behind him once more, La dipped his hand in the water again while his other hand slowly reached out to Luffy palm open and asking Luffy to let him see his hand for a minute. Biting his lip and with only a second of hesitation, Luffy slipped his hand into La's, the warmth of those long inked fingers closing around his own hand warmly, allowing him room to pull back if he wanted to.

Curious, Luffy looked over to the other hand dipped in the water and watched with clear fascination as it retracted to hover above his arm, he saw the droplets fall on his skin and glanced up at La as he inclined his head slowly, trusting him with his next actions. A small smile came to the older man's face and Luffy felt the moisture press against his skin. This water did not feel cold and evil like he'd expected it to, this water was pleasantly warm and with La's hand around his own, Luffy truly felt safe. The water dripped off of his skin as La pulled the mystery bubble block from his hand and rubbed it over the area he had pressed the water on.

Luffy's head tilted at the action, just what was La up to… as soon as that thought crossed his mind, Luffy could feel his eyes widen as big as saucers as he watched with unmasked awe as the bubbles began to appear _on his arm too_!

A squeak of both surprise and joy left his throat as he pulled his arm out of the startled man's and Luffy brought his arm up to his face, big round chocolate eyes looking over the bubbles that now covered his arm. The small smile he had acquired only moments ago grew and stretched on his face as he took a breath and blew at the bubbles, watching as they flew off of his skin and landed on La's nose.

Luffy froze then, his eyes widening for a different reason this time, back to fear. Luffy had just thrown the bubbles from himself onto La's nose, watching as they began to slide down the man's face and down to the no longer smiling lips.

Luffy's smile fell too at that moment, swallowing thickly as big eyes looked to La. He was angry, Luffy knew it, why wouldn't he be? There was no reason for him not to be mad at—

To his surprise, laughter followed the action, not the beating Luffy had been expecting. And this time the sound was much stronger than before- La's shoulders actually shook with the force of his laughter, his head slightly tipped back as he wiped the bubbles off of his face and rubbed them onto his pants, leaving Luffy bewildered. Wasn't he mad?

La calmed down after a good solid minute and smiled at Luffy, a warm and not at all threatening smile. He ask for Luffy's hand again and in the most simplistic manner possible, he begins to explain that the bar is a thing called soap and it's meant to clean things. Luffy nodded when La asked if he understood and he kind of, sort of, not entirely understands but enough to know that the bar thing made the dirt go away and make his skin lighter while also leaving a pleasant sensation behind.

La briefs Luffy in on the rest and Luffy doesn't zone out, no he would never, okay maybe he did, but only because he trusted that La would not be a meanie and would in fact be his friend, La would look after him just like the smiling man said and just like La had promised.

La's next request was odd, not something Luffy was expecting but also not the worst thing that could happen. He needed to take his clothes off, yeah that was pretty weird. The thing that Luffy found unsettling though was that La was now staring at Luffy's sock, where he kept his other knife.

Making a displeased sound, La reached his hand out again and asked for the knife. Luffy, pouting for the first time in months reached down and slipped the small knife out of his sock and placed in the surgeon's hand. A thank you was received and Luffy found himself smiling once more, in that moment La had proved himself more than trusting, he was Luffy's friend after all.

And it was because of this trust that Luffy reached higher along his calf and pulled out another one, and following with the one that resided on his left calf, the one in his right pocket, left pocket, both rear pockets, the two along each set of ribs and even the three expertly hidden ones in the stitching of his clothing.

* * *

Why was Law not _entirely_ surprised by this? The kid had whipped out a butter knife easily enough back at the table, so sure, why not have an abundance of them hidden throughout his body?

At this point Law would not be the least surprised if Luffy had a whole set of kitchenware hidden throughout his person. He stopped being surprised after the third one quite honestly.

"Done now?" He asked, counting in his hands a total of _eleven_ knives. Why did he even need these? Was he that overly prepared to spread butter on that obscene piece of shit people called bread? Law did not know, but he supposed it was just something the dark haired kid did.

The bath, which Law would have liked to say went without incident, was far more work than he had expected. Luffy had been hesitant at first, eyeing the water with wariness before Law urged him in. Once he'd actually gotten him in the water, Luffy had been completely enthralled with the concept of a bath, especially the part about bubbles, and the moment he discovered shampoo, the teen had gasped and hummed pleasantly.

Law hadn't minded bathing the kid, hell he had not even minded that he'd gotten his shirt drenched in the process. The material had been soaked entirely so he'd been forced to take it off and toss it onto the floor where Luffy's clothes lay. Law was no stranger to the human anatomy considering his medical background, but what had caught him off guard was the sight of Luffy's bare skin where healed scars and fading marks that had originally been kept hidden by the teens clothes. Law's brow had furrowed and a silent anger had taken over his mind for a moment, who had dared to hurt the lovable teen?

The answer came quite quickly to Law; the cartel, who else? The more he thought on it, it was only logical that a victim of theirs was now hidden away from them, Law could see that now, but it didn't make him any less angry, it just made him feel that much more protective of Luffy.

Getting him out of the bathtub was nearly as big of a hassle as getting him into it in the beginning, but it was not something Law couldn't manage. Luckily, the teen was exhausted after his emotional roller coaster today, and Law smiled fondly as Luffy gently nodded off against him while Law was toweling him dry. It was then that Law wondered just how much sleep Luffy had gotten over the past few days? He himself wasn't that comfortable in the huge house and he found himself missing Cora a lot, how must have Luffy felt not knowing a single one of them? The kid didn't even speak their language for fucks sakes!

Law felt like an ass at that moment, and he guessed he probably deserved to, he'd been so caught up in being mad at Luffy that he'd neglected being his caretaker like he had promised Cora. Frowning to himself, Law scooped the sleeping teen into his arms and securely wrapped in one of the large fluffy towels the place always had and carried him out of the bathroom.

Seeing the tender look on Luffy's face made Law sigh and run a hand through the now soft hair. "I'll make it up to you Lu, I promise. I'm sorry."

Minutes later, Law had dressed Luffy in spare clothes that he found in the other's room and tucked Luffy into his bed for the night. Law then turned to leave Luffy for the night his job was done and Luffy was clean, but Law had not been able to make a full turn before his wrist was caught by small thin fingers. Turning back towards the teen, Law was surprised to see that Luffy was looking at him with sleep filled eyes, unfocused for a minute before they locked on him pleadingly, his bottom lip poking out just the slightest bit in a silent pout.

Luffy wanted Law to stay, Lamie had often given him that look, a look he had thought he would have grown immune to by now, but clearly he had not. It took all of three seconds for Law's breath to leave him in a sigh and he know that he would stay with Luffy for the night. He just could not find it in himself to turn away now, Luffy looked like he really wanted Law to stay and watch over him, to keep him safe and who was Law to deny him that small comfort?

Law would watch over him, he wasn't going to sleep any time soon anyway. Slipping himself under the blanket next to Luffy, Law wished Luffy goodnight and closed his eyes. The action of closing his eyes was more out of habit than anything else really, concluding that sooner or later his insomnia would let him sleep. It wasn't until ten minutes later that he felt warmth against his bare side and a surprisingly strong arm wrapping around his middle that his eyes opened to see a smiling Luffy pressed contently against him.

* * *

 **And on that wonderful fluffy note, we leave of this chapter. We do hope you enjoyed and the translations for this chapter were a bit more, but they will start getting more scarce we promise!**

 _ **do you understand me***_

 _ **don't worry, everything is okay***_

 _ **Listen to me, Luffy! Look at me, you're nothing is going to happen to you***_

 _ **Luffy, you're safe here***_

 _ **I'll take care of you, Luffy***_

 _ **Listen to me Luffy, everything is fine**_

 **Also as a side note, we know Oda defines Izo as a man, but with her being a male to female transgender in this fic, she is a girl. Thanks!**

 **Please let us know what you think! Any thoughts, suggestions, theories, rants? We accept and welcome all. Thank you so much for all of your follows, favorites, and reviews! We love you all!**

 **And the riddle for this Chapter is:**

 _ **What kills you and gives you life at the same moment in time?**_

 **let us know if you want a sneak peek for Chapter 5! Till next time!~ Emy and Leafy**


	5. Against the Pack

Hey Guys. How long has it been? A week, okay maybe two, but that's the farthest I'm willing to admit.

Time is an illusion anyhow, but yeah without further adieu, please enjoy! Also special news at the bottom!

And special shoutout to our wonderful beta: ShiShiswordsman, go check out her works!

* * *

Law woke up feeling better rested than he had in weeks. The fact that he'd even managed to fall asleep was a miracle in itself; his insomnia usually kept him up late into the night, and his schedule at the hospital back home hadn't helped any. Judging by how bright the room was already, it was at least 10 in the morning, far later than he was used to waking up.

The moment something moved next to him, Law nearly jumped out of his skin, having completely forgotten that he had fallen asleep in Luffy's bed the night before. As yesterday's events resurfaced in his mind, Law suddenly became hyper aware of the teen pressed up against him, still fast asleep. Luffy was snuggled up against Law's chest, his slender arms wrapped around the surgeon's waist and his messy hair covering his face.

Law smiled at how comfortable and relaxed Luffy seemed; it was rare to see him with his guard completely down like this. Law pulled his arm free and brushed the hair out of the teen's eyes, leaving the scar under his left eye in plain sight. Not for the first time Law wondered how he'd gotten it. The scar looked like it had come from a knife, but he couldn't be completely sure without asking Luffy himself. And he couldn't be sure the teen would be willing to answer.

Law was soon broken from his thoughts by the sound of the door opening.

"Good morning, Luffy!" Ace said pleasantly as he peeked around the door, cheeriness turning to shock when his eyes landed of the pair lying together on the bed. Law watched in stunned silence as Ace's face quickly turned red from embarrassment and he backed out of the room, squeaking a 'sorry' as he hastily closed the door.

Law could feel his own cheeks heat up as he realized what their current positions must have looked like to Ace. Two guys laying in bed together, both shirtless and possibly naked, there had been no way for Ace to know better thanks to the sheets covering both of their lower halves. _Oh god._

Luffy stirred at the sound of the door shutting, effectively silencing the wild thoughts running rampant through Law's head. He watched with bated breath as Luffy opened his eyes and looked around the room and then at Law, overall looking very sleepy and confused.

Law could pinpoint the exact moment when Luffy put everything together and the walls came back up in his eyes. Law watched as all the peacefulness he'd had while sleeping vanished completely , replaced with that careful, guarded look Law had become accustomed to seeing in those big brown eyes over the past week.

"Hello," Law coughed, feeling more and more awkward the longer Luffy did nothing but look at him in silence, his expression unreadable. When it became too much, Law started to disentangle himself from the teen slowly. He was met with no resistance, but Luffy was clearly unhappy at the loss of his heat source, if his small frown was any indication.

Law gave him an apologetic smile as he sat up, the rest of the covers falling off his torso and pooling around his midsection. Luffy stared at him–or his chest, rather–surprise evident on his face. It took a moment for Law to realize that Luffy was in fact looking at his tattoos. He looked unbearably curious, like he wanted to touch them, but he held back, biting his lip hesitantly instead.

Law found himself giving Luffy an encouraging smile, something he seemed to be doing a lot lately. Law wasn't usually all that comfortable with people staring at his tattoos like that, let alone touch them, but the happiness that lit up Luffy's face made it worth it.

He watched as Luffy tentatively stretched a hand out, carefully monitoring Law for any signs that he should stop. When he saw none, his hand closed the distance, his fingertips tracing the black lines and following the contours of Law's back. Luffy seemed enthralled, wonder clearly displayed on his face as he took in the intricate details of Law's ink.

The touch was gentle, and so light and hesitant that Law felt a tingle go up his spine at the sensation, and Luffy looked at him with alarm clear in his eyes. Law shook his head soothingly and shifted on the bed so that he was facing the teen, the tattoos on his chest now in reach. Luffy traced those too, his eyes following his fingertips intently as he memorized all of the swoops and curves of ink that adorned Law's skin.

They were so lost in the moment that neither of them heard the knock or the sound of the door opening. Ace yet again peeked his head around the door, albeit more cautiously this time than the last.

"Marco wanted me to let you know that it's time for breakfast…" he trailed off, staring at the two of them and most likely coming to the wrong conclusion yet again. Law almost groaned aloud for having been caught in a suspicious position for a second time. This time, however, Law was not only shirtless but he was facing Luffy who was touching his chest in a way that could probably be considered intimate. Law resisted the urge, however, standing quickly instead and offering a curt nod to Ace, who hastily shut the door with clear embarrassment on his face.

Law stood awkwardly in place for a moment, staring at the closed door before heading to the bathroom to retrieve his shirt from where he had left it on the floor last night. He gathered the fabric and made to exit the bathroom so he could go get a fresh change of clothes, but something had him hesitating at the door frame, uncertainty pooling in his stomach. Law scolded himself in his thoughts for acting like a high schooler. _Just go out there Law, what're you even nervous about?_

He stepped back into the room, and found his nervousness unfounded; Luffy wasn't even looking at him. He was staring out the window with a mesmerized look on his face, and Law walked over to the teen to see what he could possibly be looking at.

At first he didn't see anything unusual enough to capture Luffy's attention like that, but then it clicked in his mind. The snow that had started falling last night had stuck to the ground, covering everything outside in a blanket of white. Luffy was absolutely captivated by the sight and his joy brought a little smile to Law's face. He'd never liked snow much, being from New York, but even he could see the beauty of undisturbed snow sparkling in the sunlight. Law mentally promised to take Luffy out later.

Just then, Luffy's stomach rumbled loudly, reminding Law that it was time for breakfast. Gently, so as not to startle the teen, Law pulled him away from the window. Luffy pouted at first, but Law informing him that it was time to eat was all the convincing the teen needed to get dressed. Law went to his own room to change, and when he stepped back out into the hall he felt much better. Luffy opened his door just as Law went to knock, startling him, and they headed down to the kitchen together, Luffy peering owlishly out of every window they passed.

Everybody sitting at the table went quiet when they entered into the dining room, watching them curiously. Law tried his best to ignore their gazes as he steered Luffy to their seats and started piling food onto his plate. The conversation picked back up after a minute or so of awkward silence, and Law let out a silent sigh of relief when it did. Luffy didn't relax though, and Law tried his best to reassure the teen that nobody was angry with him for what had happened last night. The looks Ace was shooting them wasn't helping though, and Law was sure that Luffy had noticed them.

Law stubbornly refused to meet Ace's gaze, trying to keep himself from looking guilty. He knew that Ace had walked in on them at the two worst possible moments, and probably had all sorts of wrong ideas about him and Luffy now.

Eventually, Law couldn't take it anymore and he stood up sharply, his chair scraping the floor and drawing everybody's attention to him. He took Luffy's wrist and hurried out of the room, desperate to escape all of the looks. And seeing how Luffy was still ogling at the snow outside, Law figured now was as good of a time as any to take him outside.

It took searching through and ransacking several closets scattered around the house, but Law finally managed to find them both coats and gloves to wear. It wasn't too cold outside, but he'd seen far too many warning examples in the hospital to ignore the weather; he had seen plenty of kids who thought they were tough enough to stay outside in the snow for hours at a time and _somehow_ wound up with pneumonia or frostbite. Go figure.

Luffy wanted to wear a red and white striped coat that made him look like a candy cane, with red gloves and bright yellow earmuffs and his hat, of course. An odd clothing selection, but the clothes fit him, so Law said nothing. He went for something more simple himself, just a long black coat and a white fluffy hat that was stuffed in the back of a closet, obviously forgotten about.

Even though Luffy said nothing, Law could sense the teen's impatience as they got dressed. But when it was time for them to make their way outside, Luffy hesitated in the doorway, biting his lip as he looked at the snow warily. He aimed a look at Law, and the surgeon gave him yet another reassuring smile in return.

Encouraged by Law's small gesture, Luffy took a tentative first step out, and the sound of crunching snow was loud in the stark silence fallen snow always seemed to have. He took another step, and another, and suddenly Luffy was flying across the yard, leaving wide, ugly tracks in the once perfectly untouched snow. Law couldn't help but smile to himself as he followed behind at his own pace, walking in the path Luffy had conveniently left behind.

Feeling oddly playful, Law crouched down and began gathering the snow into a ball, staying low and keeping his eyes on Luffy, waiting for the perfect opportunity. When Luffy turned his head to look towards the woods, Law struck. The snowball hit the back of Luffy's head perfectly, and Law watched as the teen instinctively dropped low to the ground, his eyes wild and searching for the source of the attack. When they landed on Law, confusion crossed his face and Law smirked at him, throwing another snowball that hit in the center of his chest.

Luffy still looked bewildered, so Law motioned to the snow and mimicked packing it into a ball and then throwing it. Realization lit up Luffy's features and he started packing the snow around him, making a very large and crumbling snowball. Law chuckled at the teen's distress when it fell apart and Luffy attempted to pick it up in vain. Law switched gears, starting to mash together his own snowballs and moving closer to set it on top of Luffy's bigger one. The proportions were all wrong for a snowman, but it didn't really matter that much, so Law gathered a few more snowballs together and placed it on the top for the head. He didn't have anything they could use for eyes, but there were plenty of sticks in the forest, so Law headed to the edge to gather a few for the arms. Luffy watched him curiously as he worked, following behind Law as he started walking away from the snowman.

Law was slightly discouraged that Luffy still found it necessary to shadow Law's every move, but he couldn't bring himself to get angry about it, especially after what had taken place last night. Law couldn't help but feel partly responsible for the teen's panic attack; he'd forgotten that Luffy was in the same situation Law was, and on top of that Luffy came from Colombia, most likely one of the poorer parts if his wonder towards modern appliances was any indicator. His transition to America hadn't exactly been smooth, and then he'd spent the next week in an unfamiliar place full of people he didn't know, and the one person he did know was angry with him. No wonder the kid had had a panic attack, Law probably would've too, had their places been switched.

These thoughts swirled around in Law's mind as he scoured the snow for sticks they could use as arms. He wasn't even sure why he was building a snowman, he hadn't made one since childhood, with Lamie. He suspected it had something to do with Luffy and how childlike he looked right now, but if Law was honest with himself, he could admit that he also just wanted to see Luffy smile again. He'd seen firsthand how nice the boy's smile could be, and it somehow reminded him of Lamie's, back before… No, he'd rather not think about that right now.

Another thing that was interesting about Luffy was that he seemed to be able to pick up on Law's moods faster than Law himself could, and whenever he started showing signs of distress the teen would close back up again. Luffy was finally starting to relax when it was just Law around him, and Law didn't want to ruin that, so he busied himself with looking for sticks and resolved to not dwell on the past.

After finding two acceptable ones, Law finally looked up at Luffy triumphantly, only to find that the teen was gone. _Where..?_

He stood up sharply, hitting the tree branch he had been crouched underneath and dumping snow on his head. He shuddered as the snow went down the back of his coat, melting instantly and leaving him shivering. Growling in frustration, Law smacked the offending branch away and stepped out from under the tree. He couldn't see Luffy anywhere.

"Luffy?" He called out hesitantly, taking a few steps deeper into the forest. There was no response of course, but Law spotted a trail of disturbed snow leading deeping into the forest, undoubtedly left behind by the teen. He let out a breath of relief, feeling anger surge up at the same time that Luffy had run off again, but he forced it back down. Law would _not_ have a repeat of last night, or ever again if he had anything to do with it.

As he followed Luffy's trail, Law couldn't help but wonder what had captured the teen's attention so avidly. His footprints zigzagged here and there, sometimes walking and sometimes running, and Law wondered how long it had taken for him to notice the teen was gone- it had to have been at least a couple minutes, considering how there was still no sign of Luffy other than his footprints, and the snow was still light and fluffy. Logically speaking, Law should've been able to hear the snow crunching as Luffy walked away, but he'd heard nothing.

As he pondered these thoughts, Law came across a blob in the trail surrounding a tree, as if Luffy had circled it a couple times before heading off in a different direction. Law walked up to the tree, immediately spotting what had caught Luffy's attention: blood. It stood out starkly against the white snow, and for a moment Law panicked, wildly thinking that it was Luffy's blood before his logical side took over. The blood was low on the tree trunk, about the height of a deer would be, and if it had been Luffy's it would have also been in his footprints walking away.

Law released the breath he'd been holding and stood back up, continuing to follow the trail. The longer he walked, the more he was noticing little details here and there- a broken tree branch, a bit of blood on the side of a bush, and he found himself picking up the pace until he entered a small clearing. Off to the left, a figure was kneeling in the snow, his back turned to Law.

Hesitantly, Law took a step towards the figure, recognizing Luffy's red and white coat. "Luffy?" The teen jumped at the voice, his body falling into a defensive position as he turned to face Law, hiding something behind him. He relaxed when he realized it was only Law, and bit his lip, looking worried.

"What is it?" Law asked, approaching the teen but stopping in his tracks when he got a view of what Luffy had been crouching over.

It was a animal of some kind, and badly injured. Law wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it looked similar to the deer he'd seen wandering around the forests of New York. He crouched down next to the animal, immediately growing concerned as he examined it. It was covered in wounds that were still bleeding, staining the snow below it bright crimson. The only sign it was still alive was the slow rise and fall of its chest. Luffy looked at Law expectantly, and Law felt something akin to panic rise up in his throat.

He wanted to help this animal, but he was a physician, not a vet! Animals were very different from humans, the best Law could do is try to stop the bleeding, but he didn't have any type of medical supplies with him. There were probably some back at the house somewhere- that was their best bet. They would follow the trail back to the house where someone could call a proper vet. Until then, he'd try his best to keep the poor animal alive.

Nodding to himself at this plan of action, Law shrugged off his coat to wrap it around the animal in order to carry it, but the action was halted as a howl ripped through the air, met with a chorus of others and sending a shiver crawling up Law's spine. That had sounded close. Hurriedly, Law gathered the injured animal up in his coat and picked it up, trying to be as gentle as possible.

"Nos tenemos que ir, _ahora_!* _"_ Law told Luffy tersely, but the teen just looked at him, shaking his head and pointing across the clearing. Law followed his gaze, and saw a wolf step out of the treeline. Law backed away, but a snarl from behind had him whipping around; there was another wolf standing right behind him. One by one more wolves joined them, stepping closer and forcing the two of them back until Law and Luffy were trapped in the middle of the clearing, surrounded.

Panic swelled up in Law's chest, setting his nerves on fire as he desperately tried to look for an escape. The wolves had them completely surrounded, and no doubt they'd been hunting the hurt animal he was currently holding. It was just his own rotten luck that he'd found it at the same time as them, and now he would die for it.

As he was considering handing the already dying animal to the wolves as a peace offering, Luffy stepped in front of him protectively, startling Law out of his frenzied thoughts. He watched, utterly dumbfounded, as Luffy lowered into a familiar defensive stance and stared down the wolves around them. He was making a low growling noise deep in his throat that Law would've never expected him to be able to make. But most notable of all was the look Luffy was giving the pack; the mere sight of it sent a thrill through Law, and he was feverishly glad that it was not directed towards him.

The wolves all hesitated, sizing them up, and Law could feel his heart beating a thousand miles per hour. After a moment of silence, the first wolf - probably the pack leader - let out a yip, and a few of the wolves surrounding them surged forward. Law's heart stopped and he closed his eyes, waiting for the attack. Much to his surprise, however, the attack never came, and Law reopened his eyes warily.

On the ground lied the still bodies of the wolves, all bleeding from the neck. He stared at the sight uncomprehendingly, wondering what the hell just happened. Luffy however, was as calm as ever, and Law couldn't help but admire his courage. The wolves seemed just as shocked as Law, but they didn't hesitate when the leader yipped again, all of them lunging for their prey.

Luffy moved so fast, Law almost couldn't follow what happened. Luffy lunged for the wolf closest to them, a flash of silver in his hands as he took the wolf out. He then leapt to the next one and then the next, his speed and agility surprising as he took out three more wolves within a few seconds.

The pack leader let out a snarl and leaped directly at Law, the remaining pack members falling suit, and time seemed to slow down for Law as he saw them all coming right at him. Despite that, he was helpless to do anything but watch in mute horror as Luffy jumped in between them. Luffy was knocked to the ground as the unsuspecting wolves plowed into him, and time suddenly sped up again as the wolves swarmed the teen. Law scanned the clearing frantically, looking for anything he could use as a weapon.

 _There_. A thick tree branch was lying not too far away and Law lunged for it, mindful of the animal's injuries. He put it down where it was safe and ran back to where the wolves were still attacking Luffy, the thick branch grasped tightly in his hands. Luffy had managed to take a few more of the beasts out, but there were just too many for the teen, and Law swung at one, knocking it off of Luffy. That of course only brought the wolve's attention to Law and leaped at him. Law swung at it, knocking it to the side again where it went still in the snow.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Law hoped he hadn't killed it, but that part of him was being overshadowed by the _protect Luffy_ part. And so, Law jumped back into the fray, knocking yet another wolf off of Luffy. The distraction seemed to be exactly what Luffy had needed, and they finally gained the upper hand, throwing the rest of the wolves off. Luffy snarled viciously at them and the remaining wolves let out a yip of fear before finally running off back into the forest.

The silence between them was so heavy Law felt like it could crush him. Luffy was breathing heavily, not facing Law and not moving from where he stood, gripping his shoulder numbly. Cautiously, Law dropped his makeshift weapon and approached the teen, placing a hesitant hand on his shoulder. Luffy seemed to come back to himself at the touch and he turned to face Law, concern evident on his face.

Law stared openly at the teen, taking in all of the injuries he had gotten in the attack. He was covered in scratches and his coat was ripped to shreds, although Luffy didn't even seem to register the fact. Law could see a particularly nasty cut on his right hip, and a bite on his left shoulder that was slowly oozing blood. Luffy watched as Law stared at him, and reached forward haltingly, placing his palm on Law's chest with a question in his eyes.

"Estoy bien,*" Law choked, and Luffy sighed in relief, not caring one bit about himself. His eyes flitted to the animal behind them, another question clear on his face. Law nodded in confirmation, and Luffy smiled brightly, and the sight took Law's breath away; he'd never seen the teen smile so happily. Actually, he didn't think he'd ever seen anybody smile that happily.

It took a few seconds before Law was able to look away, and he hurried back to the animal, checking to see that it was still alive. It was, and Law picked it up in his arms again, taking it over to where Luffy still stood, watching them.

"Let's go back."

* * *

So this Chapter's Translations aren't too many:

We need to go. _Now,*_

I'm fine*

So first of all we'd like to address our absence, we are sorry about the lack of updates and would like to thank you all for being awesome little troopers and bearing with us. Now for the reason we were so busy was because Emy and I decided it would be fun to join the One Piece Big Bang and wrote another collab fic.

What was supposed to be a small little collab project got out of proportion and eventually consumed most of our time, then other issues came up and you know the drill.

If you'd like to check it out you can find **Red Moon** under our joint account name, LeafyxEmy here on

Special thanks to all those who took the time to read, favorite, follow and review in our absence. We'll see you next chapter!~


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